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Tuesday, December 20, 2016

Long-Term Thinking: The Question of Artificial Intelligence

A
few years ago Andrew Coyne gave a speech and he talked about why he thought
Parliament would be increasingly important and why our consensus on certain
issues meant that politics would transform. He argued that the neo-liberal
consensus would lead to new debates, debates about the nature of humanity and
address the questions that new technology has and will raised. Mr. Coyne seems
to have been disproved, at least for now, and my own theory is that the global
consensus on neo-liberalism is fracturing. Still, there are a number of issues
that the Canadian Parliament should start weighing before we are overwhelmed.

Artificial
intelligence is one of my favourite themes in science fiction. Over the last
couple of years popular culture has latched onto this concept and a number of
films and television series have come out exploring humanity's relationship
with artificial intelligence/sentience. The majority of these depictions are
negative, or threatening. The public clearly has some anxiety over the creation
of artificial intelligence. Writers like Nick Bostrom seem to be suggesting
that there are tangible dangers to AI and that precautions are required to
protect us.

As
far as I am aware there are no laws governing/regulating the development of artificial
intelligence. It would not be unreasonable, for example, to insist that
artificial intelligence be developed on air-gapped computers, or that all
programs or automatons have a built-in kill switch. The dangers of rogue AI are
so extreme that even modest precautions should be accepted at face value.

Beyond
paranoia (healthy as it may be) about the development of artificial
intelligence there are inevitable questions that will arise if we successfully
develop artificial life. If we create independent, autonomous beings as
represented in fiction like Westworld,
Ex Machina, Her, etc. what rights will be extended to them? Should any? Should
artificial beings be treated like biological citizens, or should they be
treated like, say, corporations? Corporations are legal persons but they are
not allowed to vote and do not exert other rights as living beings. If you
kill/disable an AI is that murder, property destruction? Will androids/AI be
owned? Is that slavery?

One
of the big questions about artificial intelligence is how will we tell if it is
real. Artificial intelligence designers may merely create things that are very
capable at imitating people, rather than genuine sentience. Then you get into
debates about sentience and the nature of humanity's consciousness.

One
of my concerns for years is that the creation of androids will exacerbate
issues of sexism and inhumanity. When you have the ability to exploit and abuse
things that are indistinguishable from humans the threat to broader society
seems fairly obvious. Creating intelligent, responsive beings for the sole
purpose of our pleasure and violent impulses is unsettling.

Obviously
the Canadian Parliament does not need to pass laws on these matters
immediately, but it would be wise to start raising these questions and laying
some basic regulations to protect ourselves from the worst case scenario. This
might be the perfect work for the Senate to take up. As much as this may sound
like science fiction, I think the trend lines are fairly clear we're heading in
that direction, so why not prepare for it?